Volvo Urges Global Standard for Alternative Truck Fuels

By Howard S. Abramson, Editorial Director
This story appears in the Oct. 1 print edition of Transport Topics.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Truck manufacturer Volvo AB urged the world’s political leaders and energy producers to agree on global fuel standards that would allow truck makers to produce a new generation of cleaner-burning vehicles.
“If the fuel were available, we could make the commercial vehicle market carbon dioxide-free” quickly, Volvo’s chief executive officer, Leif Johansson, told reporters at a conference here last month. “The technology exists, but we need the fuels.”
By the time 2010 emission standards in the United States, Europe and Japan are in force, he said, particulate matter and nitrogen oxide pollution from diesel engines will be close to zero, leaving carbon dioxide as the primary pollutant.
The company said carbon dioxide emissions will actually rise in vehicles burning petroleum-based diesel as the other pollutants are removed from engine emissions.
But the technology already exists to produce heavy-duty trucks that are carbon dioxide-neutral — that is, the combustion of bio-fuels generate no more carbon dioxide than the vegetation and bacteria that make the fuel absorb while growing, he said.
To prove his point, Johansson showed seven prototype trucks, all running on different alternative fuels. Johansson said all of the vehicles could be in commercial production within 24 months if Volvo were assured of an adequate fuel supply.
“The whole world is moving to clean engine technology much more quickly than we expected,” Johansson said, but that fuel supply is retarding engine development.
He made his presentation Sept. 19 during the 2007 European Transport Forum, co-sponsored by Volvo and Forum Europe, which focuses on the European Union’s future transport policies.
Volvo would like to see a single, worldwide clean fuel, but, “We know this is not going to happen,” because of differences in available fuel sources around the globe, Johansson said.
As a result, the company chose seven different fuels to power their prototypes: biodiesel, biogas, a combination of biodiesel and biogas, di-methyl ether, an ethanol/methanol blend, synthetic diesel and a hydrogen/biogas combination.
He said that he thought that “the fuel industry would be the best” stakeholder to choose appropriate fuels for markets, though he added that “it will become a political issue as well,” citing as an example the clout farmers are wielding in the drive to push corn as a source of ethanol.
Johansson told the gathering of European environmental officials and journalists that the United States is now spending more money on alternative fuel re-search and development, which he said may be worrisome for Europe. He urged EU companies and governments to boost their energy research.
He said U.S. officials are clearly focused on environmental issues, despite the current administration’s refusal to sign the Kyoto accords designed to curb global pollution.
Johansson said removing carbon dioxide was important because of concerns about climate change, that worldwide oil production was nearing its peak and because of the political instability in portions of the world where the oil supply resides.
Volvo released data showing that the transportation of goods by road accounts for about 4% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
The company said that the average fuel efficiency in a 40-ton truck improved by 37% between 1975 and 2005, and projected an additional 15% gain by 2020.
In an interview after his presentation, Johansson said that while he was not proposing new fuel taxes for the United States, “There is a case to be made” that higher levies could be used to encourage the development of alternative fuels.
He added that longer, heavier trucks also should be a part of the solution to maximize fuel efficiency and reduce environmental damage in the United States. The weight limit in much of Western Europe is 80,000 pounds, similar to the United States, although the Scandinavian countries have higher limits.
Volvo says it is the world’s largest producer of heavy-duty diesel engines. Its U.S. operations include Volvo Trucks North America, Mack Trucks and Volvo Powertrain.